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Tichaona Zindoga, Correspondent
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi — the Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the Political Bureau of the governing Communist Party of China — recently conducted a tour of Africa, visiting four countries namely Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Chad and Nigeria.
The visit is part of a tradition of 35 years in which China’s top diplomat begins global diplomatic engagement each year with a visit to the continent. Wang was in Zimbabwe in 2020, as part of a similar tour.
The recent visit amplified China’s commitment to Africa, made more significant in that it came just four months after the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) summit held in Beijing last September.
This means that the agenda for China-Africa cooperation is clear cut, beginning with the implementation of the outcomes of the summit, which came up with 10 Partnership Areas of cooperation. The areas focus on mutual development and cooperation across various sectors such as trade, industrial cooperation, connectivity, health, agriculture, cultural exchanges, green development, and security.
Wang’s visit to the four countries in Southern, Central and West Africa, is a window to appreciate the comprehensive agenda China has with African countries; where 53 countries enjoy strong bilateral relations with the Asian giant, the exception being eSwatini, which does not have formal relations with China because of its recognition of Taiwan against the internationally-recognised “One-China Principle”.
Through the prism of Wang’s visit, Zimbabwe should leverage China’s co-operation with Africa, and position itself to benefit from FOCAC’s outcomes and deepen bilateral relations, with the world’s second largest economy.
On the conclusion of his visit, Wang emphasised the unique relationship between China and Africa.
“The tradition of making Africa the first overseas destination for China’s foreign minister each new year is a hallmark of Chinese diplomacy, which has been upheld consistently for 35 years, setting a unique precedent in international relations,” said Wang.
He explained that during his visits to the four countries, he had in-depth exchanges with the respective leaders regarding the implementation of the FOCAC Beijing Summit outcomes and reached a broad consensus.
Regardless of changes in the international or regional landscape, China’s commitment to Africa remains unwavering, he said. China will always be the most trustworthy friend of its African brothers and sisters, the most reliable partner in their pursuit of development and revitalisation, and the strongest supporter of Africa on the international stage.
Throughout the visits, Wang is quoted as saying, it was evident that African countries attach great importance to implementing the FOCAC summit outcomes and deepening China-Africa cooperation.
There is also an area, the Partnership Action for Mutual Learning among Civilisations, which ranks first among the 10 partnership action plans, that is being considered as a new frontier for China-Africa co-operation.
Another key context of Wang’s visit was China’s deepening of the idea of Global South partnership, with Wang saying China and Africa should facilitate the rise of the Global South in a pragmatic manner.
As the largest developing country in the world, China has always been committed to promoting the unity and revitalisation of the Global South, he added.
Scaling up Zim-China relations
The New Year, 2025 presents an opportunity for Zimbabwe and China to further grow and develop bilateral relations for mutual benefit to achieve win-win outcomes.
2025 marks a milestone of 45 years of formal diplomatic relations; China being the first country to recognise the newly-independent Zimbabwe in 1980.
The two countries have since enjoyed all-weather friendship and good historical relations, which were elevated to a comprehensive strategic co-operation during last year’s visit to China by President Mnangagwa, when he met his counterpart, President Xi Jinping. The two sides declared that their relations were “five-star ironclad”.
On a practical level, what does this mean and what does the year of 2025 hold for the two countries?
Guided by the 10 Partnership Areas, and within the overall policy framework of FOCAC and the various concepts such as Belt and Road, Global Development, Global Security and Global Civilisation Initiatives — Zimbabwe and China will continue to cooperate in a number of areas, where already they have been working together.
The key is to deepen and substantiate bilateral co-operation, and it will be crucial for both sides to diligently implement consensus, co-operation agreements and explore innovative and pragmatic ways to bring tangible benefits to the people of both countries.
It is critical to note that Zimbabwe-China relations, although strong diplomatically, are yet to fully develop in many areas, including economically. There are a number of good indications, though, in economic terms. Trade between the two countries continue to rise each year, reaching new heights.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, trade grew by 25,6 percent in the first nine months of 2024, reaching US$3 billion. Zimbabwe exported US$2,1 billion worth of goods to China while importing US$951 million, resulting in a trade surplus of about US$1 billion in favour of Zimbabwe.
The country mostly exports tobacco, chrome, ferro-alloys, iron and steel, citrus as well as salt, sulfur, earth, stone, plaster, lime, and cement, according to data from the portal, tradeeconomics.com.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe imports electrical and electronic equipment, solar products, articles of iron or steel, hair products, and so on. A comparison with other regional and African countries shows that Zimbabwe still has a lot of ground to cover with China in terms of trade, as it does not feature among top trading partners, coming behind other countries such as South Africa, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, among others which enjoy volumes that run into multiple billions.
Given the centrality of trade to Zimbabwe’s economic development, this is an area with great potential and many opportunities.
Regarding industrial co-operation, China and Zimbabwe should work together to further tap the potential for win-win co-operation in value addition, skills and technology transfer.
This could see Zimbabwe importing more finished products to China. An exciting area, which is under discussion, is how value addition could be made in the lithium sector.
Zimbabwe is considered the fifth largest producer of the so-called white gold, which is critical to power new forms of energy for vehicles and electronics, critical for climate transition. As the largest source of FDI, China already brings considerable skills and technologies in mining, a sector it dominates, and it will be crucial to continue harnessing them.
The US$13 billion metals park set to be established by the Chinese group, Eagle Canyon, promises to represent excellence in industrial cooperation between China and Africa. At the same time, it will likely increase the efficacy of industrial supply chains for critical minerals.
Exploration of opportunities in the exploitation of critical and rare earth minerals, which Zimbabwe has, and China needs as a global industrial leader, should be pursued and supported by policy and investment.
In terms of connectivity, China has been pivotal in the development of Zimbabwe’s telecommunications sector, with assistance and investments in broadband internet infrastructure, accounting for advances in the sector.
China has also expanded local airports to modernise and increase their capacity as enablers of trade and tourism; while it has also assisted in the expansion of power facilities at Hwange Thermal Power Station, upgrading two facilities, Units 7 and 8 in recent years, resulting in the addition of 600 megawatts into the national grid, translating to about a third of current national capacity.
More opportunities abound to expand infrastructure such as roads, rail and water bodies.
Connected to this, China Energy in 2023 made a proposal to establish a “floating” solar plant on Lake
Kariba that would see about 1,8 million solar panels generating 1 000 megawatt installed at a cost of $987 million. If this is to come to fruition — as it should — it means that Zimbabwe would have set a huge example of green development and cooperation with China, conceived under FOCAC.
China and Zimbabwe have a lot of unexplored or under-explored opportunities in the areas of health and agriculture, where currently there is cooperation largely in the transfer of skills and exploration of new models, with Chinese experts in health and agriculture coming in batches to assist locals.
More can be done in both areas, particularly in areas of mechanisation of agriculture to support poor farmers, and tooling and resources health centres, and introducing technology-driven innovations, including Artificial Intelligence.
One potential area of growth, where Zimbabwe and China have already made progress, is cultural exchanges, as there is increasing contact between the two peoples with many Zimbabweans learning Chinese language at home and in China as well as enjoying fine Chinese cuisines and traditions.
There are lots of opportunities to deepen cooperation in this field, and especially so, bringing together young people of the two sides.
The Global Civilisation Initiative, which Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced to encourage mutual learning among civilisations, is a key policy pillar that could bring out more commonalities between the two countries, which will enhance mutual affinity and goodwill.
Lastly, in light of the evolving dynamics in the area of peace and security, China and Zimbabwe should continue to deepen relations, which began with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) assisting Zimbabwe’s liberation-seeking guerrillas in the 1960s-70s.
With traditional and non-traditional threats to peace and security becoming an ever-increasing reality, including the conflicts in Mozambique and cyber threats, the two countries should explore, co-ordinate and facilitate more cooperation to contribute to a peaceful world.
Enhanced China-Zimbabwe cooperation in the peace and security sector will assist the country in particular, and SADC in general, to deal with emerging and extant challenges, including terrorism and threats and challenges posed by imperialist forces.
Zindoga is the Director of Ruzivo Media and Resource Centre, a Zimbabwean think tank
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